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Endowment Awards 2010 HELP Grants to Five Universities
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Students and faculty from the University of Nebraska – Kearney recieve the HELP award from NAHB Past President Bob Mitchell (left) during ceremonies at the 2010 International Builders' Show in Las Vegas last month. | The National Housing Endowment, the philanthropic arm of NAHB, recently awarded $350,000 in HELP — Homebuilding Education Leadership Program — grants to five universities to help fund improvements to their residential construction management programs.
The grants were announced at the NAHB Student Chapter Award Ceremony at the 2010 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas last month.
“Through the HELP grants, the National Housing Endowment works to help the residential construction industry develop more advanced and effective approaches to home building as well as to ensure the industry has an ample and well-trained supply of future workers and leaders,” said Gary Garczynski, endowment chairman and 2002 NAHB President.
The 2010 grants were awarded to:
- The University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, Neb., which will use the grant to recruit more women and minorities to its construction management program and create a residential construction concentration in what, until now, was a commercially-focused program. The university also intends to use part of the grant to address its need for qualified collegic level teachers in residential construction by improving its graduate program.
- Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Cincinnati; and Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Ky., which were awarded a joint grant to create a bridge between earning an associate’s degree at Cincinnati State to the four-year program at Northern Kentucky to enable students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in residential construction management. The grant will also be used to teach college-level construction classes to area high school students.
- The University of Nebraska – Kearney, Kearney, Neb., which will use its grant to hire a full-time faculty member to ensure the future of their residential construction management program and to increase the activities of the NAHB Student Chapter on campus.
- Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C., which will use the funding to create a land development major and a master’s program with an emphasis on the legal, political, environmental and financial aspects of land development.
The endowment established the HELP initiative in 2006 to bolster or start residential construction management programs in two- and four-year colleges and universities across the country and to increase the number of qualified graduates entering the industry. To date, the endowment has awarded more than $1.3 million in HELP grants to educational institutions.
Previous HELP grant recipients include California Baptist University, California Polytechnic University – San Luis Obispo, Colorado State University, East Carolina University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Jefferson State Community College, John A. Logan College, Middle Tennessee State University, North Dakota State University, Purdue University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Texas A&M University and Prairie View A&M University.
For more information on HELP grants, call the endowment at 800-368-5242 x8069 or visit www.nationalhousingendowment.org.
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